Exceptional Jedi: The Dream of a Lost One
by WindySilver
Summary: Very early 18 BBY. After the betrayal of the clone troopers in Order 66, the camaraderie between them and the Jedi was broken. Months later, a woman with basic Jedi training of a child and her self-built sentient droid partner discuss the plans of the woman. FFM 2016 July 3rd.


The camaraderie between the Jedi generals and commanders and their clone troops became undeniable as the Clone Wars progressed. Victory after victory, scrapped clanker after the previous clanker which was turned into scrap metal, saved lives after saved lives, they grew close to each other. The clones knew they could count on the Jedi to lead them through battles the best they could, and the Jedi knew they could count on the clone troopers to do their best in the battle. They watched each other's backs.

They were all to each other, from one point of view, _vode_ , meaning brothers and sisters in Mandalorian. And while not many Jedi saw it that way, those who did agreed to that; there was no way to deny it. And to the clones, the brotherhood between each other was what they had always known.

This camaraderie, one of the greatest things in the whole universe, was what made clones turning against the Jedi in Order 66 extremely detrimental to those parts of parties who lived to tell about it. Not all clones survived killing their Jedi vode without getting mental health issues later because of what they had done, and those Jedi who survived the assault could trust no one later, not only because of the Empire but also because of the strong trust which had been betrayed. Most of the Jedi never got the answer to the questions "why" and "how" about their trusted troops turning against them...

Ascii observed Shinga. The woman knew some Jedi and could tell about them. She had told stories about Obi-Wan Kenobi and Cody, Anakin Skywalker, Ahsoka Tano and Rex, Sören and Dagus, to the young of the villages far away from the Empire. There was fondness in her words as she reminisced them. Always she said that the Jedi were not the traitors. Instead, the traitor was the Sith Lord who had taken over the Republic and turned it into the Empire somehow.

Ascii once asked her about how she knew all this stuff. She said that she had been in Jedi training as a child and that way she knew some Jedi. She had never said anything about having been a Jedi Knight herself, only that every Master she had tried to impress had not accepted as their Padawan learner. Ascii knew from that that this woman was a washout, and fortunate on that: she had been ignored by the Empire for being part of the Jedi Order once, because once Order 66 had been issued, she had not been there to be a threat.

Shinga was no threat for her basic Jedi education until the age of 13. She was going to become a threat on her own account, with her own deeds and skills. And Ascii was part of it. He was her "partner in crime". He had questioned being a criminal, but as Shinga explained her plans – _their plans_ – Ascii never found hurting anyone there: no assassinations, no kidnapping, no acts of terrorism that would hurt someone, civil or imp, just no killing. Only as the last and only possible choice of self-defense she ever did approve killing, reluctantly. She always told that incapacitating was what they should do to Stormtroopers even though Ascii argued that if they killed them, there would be less of them later. Shinga countered that with the fact that the Empire was recruiting more of them all the time. Killing would change nothing else than the amount of the grieving families and friends of the killed ones.

Ascii was sure that the Jedi ethics were deeply ingrained to Shinga. Nothing else could explain such adamancy on this matter. The woman wanted to harm the Empire by causing material damage.

One day the droid dared to ask Shinga what she was.  
"I am a lost one. The Empire killed my family and took my way of living away from me. I had to escape and find a new profession to get a living. The Empire took my old life down, and I want to take it down," she answered.  
"So you want revenge," Ascii said.  
"Secondarily yes. But more importantly I want to bring it to justice for the wrong it has done to innocent people, and I want the galaxy to be at peace. Peace and justice are what drive me."  
"'Jedi are the guardians of peace and justice in the galaxy'," Ascii remembered.  
"The Jedi are no more. That's why we who can must do whatever we can to do it."

Shinga looked out of the window.  
"Ascii, ner vod, I can count on you on this mission, can I?" she asked.  
"Of course you can! You built me to be by your side and help you out", Ascii answered. "We may disagree with things, but we are still a team. We are vode, aren't we?"

Shinga turned to look at the sentient droid, surprised to hear the sentiment from him. Then she gave her rare, happy yet sad yet fond smile.  
"Yes, we are. Mhi cuyi vode."  
"You understand that I still don't have that Mando'a language pack you once promised me? My processor can't learn the way your human brains do! My consciousness does not let me learn anything very easily anyway!"  
"Oh, yes of course. Sorry, my brother."

Ascii walked to look at the view from the window with Shinga. The view they were looking at was beautiful.  
"Someday they will all be able to live in peace with no fear of the imps. And not just they, but all the people on every single planet of the galaxy. That is my dream Ascii. And I'm going to make it real, someday. Someday we will succeed," Shinga said. "Someday.

 **/Star Wars (c) Lucasfilm, any characters you cannot find on Wookieepedia, Veledos, Veledosians and their language (c) Me/**


End file.
